PHILADELPHIA – On Wednesday, December 8, the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) and the Junta of Militant Organizations (JOMO), the youth wing of the Uhuru Movement, held a demonstration in front of the Gallery shopping mall (located on Market and 9th St) to protest the constant attacks on African youth made by the police and anti-black, parasitic merchants throughout downtown Philly.
These same businesses criminalize African youth but have no problem taking our money.
Over two dozen members and supporters of the Uhuru Movement and our allies braved the freezing cold weather to respond to the equally harsh treatment our youth receive at the hands of this system.
In several stores in the gallery, there have been reports from JOMO forces that they cannot even stand in sneaker and clothing stores without store management and security telling them they have to leave.
On Market Street, African youth are targets of constant harassment by the police.
This past spring, the City convicted 31 young Africans who the police claimed to be part of the “flashmob” youth uprisings that occurred throughout Center City and South Street.
InPDUM and JOMO believe that African youth are criminalized by the government and parasitic merchants as a way to disguise the crimes the government itself commits against the African community.
Billions of dollars are stolen from black people by the City of Philadelphia and used to fund a war against our poor and oppressed communities.
Just a brief look at the statistics reveals the depth of this war and conditions imposed on the African community:
- 210,000 Africans were stopped by the police last year for no reason other than being black.
- 75% of the African population in North Philadelphia lives below the poverty line.
- 50% of African youth in Philly are unemployed.
- 45% of African students in Philly are forced out of the underfunded school system while the police and prisons get $1.1 billion from the City.
Meanwhile, white youth are allowed to smoke weed on college campuses and turn over cars when the Phillies win games.
The social system in Philadelphia and throughout the US are no different than apartheid South Africa!
InPDUM and JOMO call on all lovers of freedom and social justice to resist the war against the African Community and Unite with the following demands:
- The police and security guards in the Gallery stop the unlawful arrests, brutality and harassment of African youth.
- The Gallery pay reparations to the African youth of Philly in the form of jobs and businesses that promote our interests.
This protest was a forerunner to the highly anticipated InPDUM Convention, scheduled for February 19-21.
The theme of the Convention is “Africans Have a Right to Resist: We Demand Freedom and Reparations Now!”
On the third day of the convention will be an African Youth Resistance Conference entitled “From Flashmobs to Black Power.” Register TODAY at inpdum.org.
